2008-2009 Duke Secondary Application Thread

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Meh, I'm focusing on writing well instead of writing sparingly. I figure if they're making me go through the trouble of answering the most probing questions ever the least they can do is skim my long essays, which in my opinion do a good job of answering their damn questions. Most of them are about a page long, but I do have a couple that are a page and a little bit, and I'm ok with it. If I edited them too much, they'd end up being bad. But I'm kind of a wordy writer, so...
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Wow, one page each! So, just to clarify, that is about 1000 words for each question? Does anyone else think that is really long or do I need to lengthen mine? Right now mine are all about three paragraphs (1000 characters). I understand most people on here are overachievers, but a page is the normal length of primary scholarship and application essays, not supplementary info, right?

Besides, it seems that an essay of one page for these questions would have to include a lot of frivolous detail that distracts from your main points, and might get you into trouble during the interview.
 
joponoda said:
Wow, one page each! So, just to clarify, that is about 1000 words for each question? Does anyone else think that is really long or do I need to lengthen mine? Right now mine are all about three paragraphs (1000 characters). I understand most people on here are overachievers, but a page is the normal length of primary scholarship and application essays, not supplementary info, right?

Besides, it seems that an essay of one page for these questions would have to include a lot of frivolous detail that distracts from your main points, and might get you into trouble during the interview.
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Hmm well I'm going to go ahead and ignore the poorly veiled insults at my writing. I honestly am a wordy writer, I have a degree in literature and have been writing a LOT of essays and have gotten a bunch of recognition for them, an award at graduation and such. I am not used to writing about such general, fluffy questions in a few paragraphs. I'm absolutely not saying that my approach is the better approach- in fact, it's possible that it'll actively bug the adcoms to read so much stuff- but as far as I'm concerned, the choice was between being wordy or being incomplete and having a poorly written essay, which I'm sure everyone would agree is usually the more objectionable way to go. If you feel that you have explored your ideas adequately in 3 paragraphs, embrace it, that's lovely. I just think that I can't answer a question like "why are you special, how are you diverse, what's your best quality, what's your worst flaw" in so little space, not if I don't want to make it sound like bullet points. As far as I'm concerned, all of these essays are SO open-ended that if I write too briefly, I'll sound like a 10 year old, or worse, I'll sound like I haven't thought about the question at all.
Again, this is my approach, so if you feel like 1 page is too long cause you'll end up rambling, avoid it. If you think a couple of paragraphs will make you sound like an idiot, avoid that too. Also I am sooooo far from being an overachiever...
 
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Sorry, LET. I did not mean to offend you. I was just trying to get an idea of how long everyone thinks these should be. Right now it seems the average if 2000 characters, so you are on the long side and I am on the short side.

I have brought this up because I know one person who applied to MD programs last year, got invited to four interviews, but was not accepted to any schools. He said his downfall was that there were details in his essays that the interviews picked on and when they found out that those aspects were less significant then stated the interviews took a turn for the worst. He kicked himself because without those detail he feels those essay whould have been just as strong.

P.S.
The overachievers comment was a compliment...I know I want my doctor and my future colleagues to all be overachievers (as long as it does not get in the way of collaboration).
 
joponoda said:
Sorry, LET. I did not mean to offend you. I was just trying to get an idea of how long everyone thinks these should be. Right now it seems the average if 2000 characters, so you are on the long side and I am on the short side.

I have brought this up because I know one person who applied to MD programs last year, got invited to four interviews, but was not accepted to any schools. He said his downfall was that there were details in his essays that the interviews picked on and when they found out that those aspects were less significant then stated the interviews took a turn for the worst. He kicked himself because without those detail he feels those essay whould have been just as strong.

P.S.
The overachievers comment was a compliment...I know I want my doctor and my future colleagues to all be overachievers (as long as it does not get in the way of collaboration).
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Oh no worries! I think I was a bit testy last night. Five never-ending essays about my life and aspirations can do that. Sorry I got so easily offended.
Yeah, I can imagine that sharing too many details might be an issue. I think we all overdramatize our struggles and work experiences to make them sound "better" (and to have something to talk about, really) but hopefully they won't ask me in too much detail what I mean by "run my own study" haha. In my case, the long essays have to do more with my flowery language (I grew up in Europe and that's how they taught us to write, I'm afraid) than oversharing.
Either way, I think the best way to approach these essays is to a) feel like you've said everything and b) feel like you can talk about it all in your interviews- or at least be as adept at BS in person as on the page :D

Good luck with the application!
 
My word lengths:

1. 995
2. 603
3. 668
4. 658
5. 409

Not a single essay was lengthened for the purpose of lengthening, nor did I really drop too many unnecessary details. But if you're asking me about my most humbling experience, or a moral dilemma, you damn well better be ready to hear a long story about it. These things aren't easy to tell properly in 150 words.

One thing I can say about Duke, I'm glad they don't create word limits. I hate writing a thorough, excellent essay, and having to trim it down at the cost of my narrative voice.
 
I'm pretty much in love with Duke. So much so I'm working as an admissions officer for them my gap year, but I don't see anywhere on their secondary to indicate that...should I try to include it in one of their essay somehow or can I only mention it if I get one of those sought-after interviews?
 
sss403 said:
Your application is almost ready to move into the screening phase.

clean.png
1. COMPLETE: Submit and lock my application
flag.png
2. INCOMPLETE: Pay my application fee.
The payment gateway will be opening shortly. We apologize for the inconvenience. Please check back to submit your payment and move your application to screening.

No need to rush guys! They are not ready yet.
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Kind of weird considering how I got a second email telling me the secondary is all ready and they have a really secure online payment. O well, someone please post when payments are accepted, please!
 
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man i've finished 3 of the 5 essays and it was an uphill road to say the least. i'm averaging about about 500 to 600 words per essay.
 
im on the short end... mine are about 200-250 words, except for the strengths and weaknesses essay which is about 650 words... i feel like i have said everything needed concisely so im not going to worry about it.... every time i look at the website, the more i fall in love with duke :love:
 
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I keep putting off Duke... Right now just finishing up Stanford's Essays, but I really need to stop slacking.
 
Huey said:
Kind of weird considering how I got a second email telling me the secondary is all ready and they have a really secure online payment. O well, someone please post when payments are accepted, please!
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any news?
 
Anyone know where it says that Duke's App is NON-rolling? and if so when do you have to have it by for equal consideration?
 
Does anyone know why we have the option of making things bold and different colors? When we submit, won't it be all neutral again or can I actually submit in a different color?
 
So, granted my primary reason for doing so was my lower than avg. GPA but as soon as I read the 6 or so secondary questions for Duke last year, with no word limit, containing 13 questions with the enormity of "What is the purpose of life?" I didn't even bother submitting it. Good luck to ppl who will though ...
 
AnArabiaNight said:
Anyone know where it says that Duke's App is NON-rolling? and if so when do you have to have it by for equal consideration?
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Duke is definitely non-rolling. You just need to have your application in by the deadline to be considered. The secondary deadline is Dec 1 I believe.
 
diosa428 said:
Duke is definitely non-rolling. You just need to have your application in by the deadline to be considered. The secondary deadline is Dec 1 I believe.
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If you submit earlier than the deadline does that mean you get an earlier interview? I'm not exactly sure what non-rolling means.. does ADCOM not start looking at apps til Dec 1st? is there any advantage to submitting earlier
 
sux2bu09 said:
If you submit earlier than the deadline does that mean you get an earlier interview? I'm not exactly sure what non-rolling means.. does ADCOM not start looking at apps til Dec 1st? is there any advantage to submitting earlier
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Interviews are rolling, acceptances are not. In other words, if you submit in August you could get an offer to interview as early as Sept/Oct. If you wait until November to apply, your interview will be in Jan/Feb. There's a benefit to applying early in the sense that you may have a better chance to interview because there are more spots to be filled and also you don't run the risk of them running out of on-campus interview slots. However, whether you interview in October or February doesn't make a difference in terms of your chances of acceptance.
 
Payment gateway is still not open! argh.
 
Payment Gateway is Now Open.
 
I'm not so happy about Duke mailing me my secondary submission email as a "Purchase confirmation". Just seems wrong for some reason.
 
Is anyone else just looking at this thing thinking that they're not gonna finish it for another month? Maybe saving this one for last wasn't such a great idea after all, what with depleting my motivation from finishing so many already and all.
 
^
I'm looking at my Columbia secondary like that. :p
 
Kaydubz said:
Is anyone else just looking at this thing thinking that they're not gonna finish it for another month? Maybe saving this one for last wasn't such a great idea after all, what with depleting my motivation from finishing so many already and all.
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I saved it for last, too. :( I finally wrote the moral dilemma essay (the hardest one for me), but now I have to change my diversity/strength/weakness essay because I wrote about a similar topic. Aagh, so close to being done. At least the payment system didn't open until a few days ago, so we're not that "late." :)

Though that definition of "late" is still pretty early. :oops:
 
Legend
SS: Secondary Submitted
C: Complete
II: Interview Invite
I: Interview

Shemarty: SS: 8/11, C:?, II:?, I:?
 
shemarty said:
Legend
SS: Secondary Submitted
C: Complete
II: Interview Invite
I: Interview

Shemarty: SS: 8/11, C:?, II:?, I:?
Click to expand...
I knew you'd be the first one! Should've taken bets. Congrats! Nice work.
 
good job shemarty!
i just started this monster secondary. ugh ugh ugh. drown drown drown.

just checking, they DONT want your LORs yet right?
 
Legend
SS: Secondary Submitted
C: Complete
II: Interview Invite
I: Interview

Shemarty: SS: 8/11, C:?, II:?, I:?
rplyler1: SS: 8/11, C:?, II:?, I:?
 
Legend
SS: Secondary Submitted
C: Complete
II: Interview Invite
I: Interview

Shemarty: SS: 8/11, C:?, II:?, I:?
rplyler1: SS: 8/11, C:?, II:?, I:?
Waterlilly: SS: 8/5, C:8/7, II:?, I:?
 
For the most humbling experience question, is it bad to write about something from high school? Like a trip to a foreign country after your sophomore year. Or is it better to stick with college experiences?
 
serikk85 said:
I knew you'd be the first one! Should've taken bets. Congrats! Nice work.
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I'm not the first one - I'm just the first one to start the list!
There are people who finished in the days right after it was released. I wasn't quite as motivated/dedicated. I saved Duke for last.
 
NCDukie said:
For the most humbling experience question, is it bad to write about something from high school? Like a trip to a foreign country after your sophomore year. Or is it better to stick with college experiences?
Click to expand...


Now I feel like my topic is unoriginal....I, too, was thinking of doing a trip to a foreign country


Just out of curiosity, how many people in this part of the forum actually go to duke? I am one...
 
I finally finished all 5 essays!...it was rough.

But I'm too anal to submit it, I'll probably review/edit them until the end of this week. I would kill to go here.
 
Legend
SS: Secondary Submitted
C: Complete
II: Interview Invite
I: Interview

sss304: SS: 8/1, C:8/1, II:?, I:?
Waterlilly: SS: 8/5, C:8/7, II:?, I:?
Shemarty: SS: 8/11, C:?, II:?, I:?
rplyler1: SS: 8/11, C:?, II:?, I:?
 
Has anyone who is current complete had their letters of recommendations downloaded through VirtualEvals? They informed me that they won't start downloading letters until the end of August, but others are reporting being complete.
 
anybody else have a problem with the payment portal today?
 
Bretzel said:
Now I feel like my topic is unoriginal....I, too, was thinking of doing a trip to a foreign country


Just out of curiosity, how many people in this part of the forum actually go to duke? I am one...
Click to expand...

Haha... I wrote about this too. I suppose it's better to be honest and genuine and unoriginal than to write about something less true and have to write BS.
 
gah1 said:
Has anyone who is current complete had their letters of recommendations downloaded through VirtualEvals? They informed me that they won't start downloading letters until the end of August, but others are reporting being complete.
Click to expand...

MD applicants: Please do not send paper letters of recommendation until you have received an invitation to interview.Recommendations submitted to Duke from your college or university via Virtual Evals will be downloaded to your electronic file prior to your interview (if applicable).

So there is no such thing as being complete...I think. Once you submit and pay, you are complete, for now at least, until you are invited to interview. :)
 
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